Story Link: http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/cruise-missiles-strike-yemen/story?id=9375236&page=1

Obama Ordered U.S. Military Strike on Yemen Terrorists
Cruise Missiles Launched Thursday Hit Two Suspected al Qaeda Sites; Major Escalation of US Efforts Against Terrorists
By BRIAN ROSS, RICHARD ESPOSITO, MATTHEW COLE, LUIS MARTINEZ and KIRIT RADIA

—

On orders from President Barack Obama, the U.S. military launched cruise missiles early Thursday against two suspected al-Qaeda sites in Yemen, administration officials told ABC News in a report broadcast on ABC World News with Charles Gibson.

One of the targeted sites was a suspected al Qaeda training camp north of the capitol, Sanaa, and the second target was a location where officials said "an imminent attack against a U.S. asset was being planned."

The Yemen attacks by the U.S. military represent a major escalation of the Obama administration's campaign against al Qaeda.

In his speech about added troops for Afghanistan earlier this month, President Obama made a brief reference to Yemen, saying, "Where al Qaeda and its allies attempt to establish a foothold –– whether in Somalia or Yemen or elsewhere –– they must be confronted by growing pressure and strong partnerships."

Until tonight, American officials had hedged about any U.S. role in the strikes against Yemen and news reports from Yemen attributed the attacks to the Yemen Air Force.

President Obama placed a call after the strikes to "congratulate" the President of Yemen, Ali Abdallah Salih, on his efforts against al Qaeda, according to White House officials.

A Yemeni official at the country's embassy in Washington insisted to ABC News Friday that the Thursday attacks were "planned and executed" by the Yemen government and police.

Along with the two U.S. cruise missile attacks, Yemen security forces carried out raids in three separate locations. As many as 120 people were killed in the three raids, according to reports from Yemen, and opposition leaders said many of the dead were innocent civilians.

American officials said the missile strikes were intended to disrupt a growing threat from the al Qaeda branch in Yemen, which claims to coordinate terror attacks against neighboring Saudi Arabia.

The al Qaeda presence in Yemen has been steadily growing in the last two years. "Al Qaeda generally has been pushed into these ungoverned areas, whether it is the Afghanistan-Pakistan border area [or Yemen]," said Richard Barrett, coordinator of the U.N.'s Taliban al-Qaeda Sancitions Monitoring Committee. "I think many of the key people have moved to Yemen."

The U.S. embassy was attacked by suspected al Qaeda gunmen last year.

And the presumed leader of al Qaeda in Yemen, Qaaim al-Raymi, has frequently appeared on internet videos, offering an alternative to the training camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

"If they can go to Yemen just as easily or easier and get training there and come out again," said Barrett, "all your efforts in Pakistan and Afghanistan are a waste of time."

Qaaim al-Raymi was considered a prime target of the attack Thursday but was reported to have escaped the attack. However, U.S. officials believe one of his top deputies may have been killed.

This should have been the reaction to the Taliban instead of a full invasion in 2001.

Ibime:

This should have been the reaction to the Taliban instead of a full invasion in 2001.

This was the position of the Clinton and Bush administrations before 9/11 (lobbing cruise missiles to supposed training camps). Many have since concluded that it was this approach to terrorism that allowed for the planning and execution of 9/11 attacks and the expansion of Al-Qaeda's terrorist networks and connections. It is easy now to blast the decision to invade Afghanistan after 8-9 years of mismanagement and severe human and economic costs. But at the time in 2001 a full scale invasion was the best and only option that would have safeguarded America from the growing threat of AL-Qaeda.

This is barbaric.

muhsin:

This is barbaric.

and how would you describe al qaeda's daily activities all around the middle east and world? humane? benevolent? warm-hearted?

Please, you live by the bomb, you die by the bomb. Justice at its best.

The war in Yemen is probably the most underreported story today. This conflict has the potential to spiral into a major regional conflict.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/8429843.stm

The increased violence in Yemen is a clear indication that military campaigns to crush al-Qaeda-inspired violence extend far beyond the borders of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

It also shows up hostile fault-lines within the Middle East, pitting mainly Shia Iran against Sunni Saudi Arabia, who condemn each other for taking sides in Yemen's long-running civil war.

Yemen is one of the poorest countries in the Arab world with almost half its 24 million people living below the poverty line and an authoritarian government that has failed to win the trust of a substantive part of its own population.

This makes fertile ground for al-Qaeda.

US intelligence agencies have determined that, along with Pakistan, Yemen is a key area on which to concentrate on al-Qaeda.

More than 90 detainees still in America's Guantanamo Bay detention centre come from Yemen. That is nearly half the total.

Despite the policy to close Guantanamo, US authorities do not want to send them back for fear that they would boost al-Qaeda's operations and morale there.

The US has invested some $70m (£40m) in military aid in Yemen in the past year, believed to include training, the use of drones and intelligence to pinpoint al-Qaeda camps and activity.

Much is classified because neither Yemen nor the US wants American activities there to stir up yet more dissent.

The instability in Yemen is becoming critical. Al-Qaeda has announced that its networks in Yemen and Saudi Arabia have merged to create al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsular.

The civil war is being waged by the Shia community in the north that borders Saudi Arabia. Saudi forces have actively intervened.

In one case it was accused of bombing a market killing many civilians.

Iran has publicly warned against any foreign intervention.

And - although the phrase is now frowned upon - US intelligence agencies are keeping a closer and closer watch in this newly-emerging theatre in the "war on terror".

JeSoul:

and how would you describe al qaeda's daily activities all around the middle east and world? humane? benevolent? warm-hearted?

Please, you live by the bomb, you die by the bomb. Justice at its best.

I don't condone their actions, either. Though in a way justifiable.

muhsin:

I don't condone their actions, either. Though in a way justifiable.

My dear Mushin, the cold-blooded murder of innocent people is never justifiable. Most times, who do they end up killing if not their own people? their own brothers and sisters?

They hide and cower under the guise of "fighting for the people""fighting the western powers who hold them captive". There are many diplomatic and non-violent means of effecting change - but of course they're not concerned about real change, just seeking to feed their insatiable power-hungry desires and to force others to live according to their twisted ways.

JeSoul:

My dear Mushin, the cold-blooded murder of innocent people is never justifiable. Most times, who do they end up killing if not their own people? their own brothers and sisters?

They hide and cower under the guise of "fighting for the people""fighting the western powers who hold them captive". There are many diplomatic and non-violent means of effecting change - but of course they're not concerned about real change, just seeking to feed their insatiable power-hungry desires and to force others to live according to their twisted ways.

Are those people (or at least some) rather forced to behave the way they do? Are they not being oppressed--pushed to the wall? View yourself in their shoes. . .what would you do? Isn't it to simply revolt? Kai! Give me a break.

we're ALL human afterall!
the Powerful will often try to use his might to have his way, and in as much as EVERY nation/Race and Creed has itself to Defend first, they should think also of the Implication on others.

but who says Violence has to begat Violence
do that and the Violent cycle never stop!

Rather, check out the Example of Jesus saying of "when slapped on a right cheek, "
In the long run, the Public sympathy would have swayed on the side of the Under dog.

If the weak decide to rise up on it's strenght against, the Strong, it's only natural and sure of Ajekun iya (repeated Bashing).

This is rubbish.
Umar Farouq was radicalised in the U.K. was he not? Why have attacks not being launched over there?

to cyber,

UK?
says WU?

what happened to the Yemen angle\
i guess you must be Anti UK?

it is this kind of us irrational war that makes so many people to think that american leaders have gone crazy and wild!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!nonsense policy.